AS a troubled 2018 season enters its final stretch, things are looking up once more off the field for the Keighley Cougars.

The club's profile is beginning to be raised once more, with social media hits at an all-time high, while renovations continue to take place around Cougar Park.

All this, along with a continuing blossoming relationship with new Cougar Park tenants Steeton, points to things moving on up for the club just a month into the Austria Holdings era.

This week saw interviews for the new Freddie Cougar take place, on the back of a superb social media campaign to drum up interest in the long-time club mascot.

Freddie travelled far and wide to expand his profile, appearing within Keighley itself as well as branching out and making a guest appearance on Richard Stead’s breakfast show on BBC Radio Leeds last Thursday.

And keeping up with the times, Freddie even debuted his new craze ‘Floss with Freddie’ with the help of Richard Stead and BBC Look North and Radio Leeds weather presenter Abbie Dewhirst.

‘Floss with Freddie’ has had such an interest and intake on social media, that the club itself is inviting children and adults to get down early to the next home match against Doncaster RL on September 9 in joining Freddie for a mass floss on the pitch.

Around the ground, a much-needed facelift has seen Cougar Park take on a fresh look.

The club's main offices and main entrance have undergone a month long period of refurbishment to take a fresh, neutral look as the new owners continue with their mission to take the Cougars back to the dizzy heights of Cougarmania on and off the field.

On the pitch, the Cougar Park playing surface has undergone a well-needed period of restoration ahead of the arrival of Steeton, following their promotion to the North West Counties Football League.

The superb work and long hours put in by Steeton’s groundsmen, Robert Tosney and James Yeadon, has not gone unnoticed, with the Cougar Park pitch looking the best it has done in many a year.

And the Chevrons got their just rewards last Saturday afternoon with a 1-0 victory over AFC Blackpool ahead of two home games in three days this weekend.

They go up against Atherton LR on Saturday and then Shelley on Bank Holiday Monday.